The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) started out as a youth movement in 1947, when a foreign student in the United States misinterpreted the imperial gallon for an imperial galley, and thus scored rather badly on math exam with his argumentation on the consequences of imperialism, which was later published in the New York Times. He started the Anti American Measurement System Movement (Anti AMS Movement), and gathered solid support, especially from other math dropout students, who felt a grudge against the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

As a result of this the math community became interested in ISO, and to standardize the numbers. After a long debate they decided upon the sequence 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. This was instantly boycotted by the USA, because neither 13 nor 50 included. However, as the scientists pointed out, it was rather ridiculous to include 13 in a number system, as it was not used very much. Also, they argued, too many numbers would just confuse people.

All this exhausting standardization work was brought to a halt by World War II, and for a brief period companies were able to manufacture efficiently.
The very existence of ISO was threatened when a group of Arabian rocket scientists went to Trondheim (at that time the capital of Europe) in order to standardize butter and margarine. This subject was strictly taboo inwards in ISO, and divided the organization. The scientists concluded that butter was the only decent ingredient to use in order to fry food, but the opposition did not approve of this, and decided to combat the rocket scientists.

At that point the ISO had grown so powerful that it answered American hostility with developing a standardized map where they excluded the USA, upon which the country seized to exist.

In recent years the organization has ruled the earth with an iron fist, but some revolutionary groups still combat the oppressor. Among these are the neptimalists, who disapprove the idea of standardization, or any other efforts of optimization. They have strong support in military circles, however detained by a rather overwhelming laziness.